We may begin this article with the phrase "Business Intelligence Reporting Tools is..." as a textbook definition, but our intention is to present this interesting aspect of your business in a useful and memorable manner. So let’s start with words …
Imagine keeping your records in a physical store, not with the help of a computer but with a calculator, a notebook, and a pen.
Got goosebumps? Especially if you envision a large store for bulk purchases. Yes, this method of accounting can exist, but not in our century. This is how reporting of online store operations looks without using reporting programs. This is possible but very inconvenient, especially if the business deals with a large number of customers.
So…
What is BI Reporting Tool?
Business intelligence (BI) is a set of practices for collecting, structuring, analyzing and turning raw data into a picture of a business that allows decisions to be made. BI uses techniques and tools that transform unstructured data sets, compiling them into understandable reports or information dashboards.
Reporting is a part of business intelligence. Some programs have better reporting capabilities, some worse. Some of them already have a ready-made set of reports and dashboards, and in some you will have to configure them yourself, but now this is not a difficult task.
However, you do not need to create tables yourself, enter information, as for example in Excel or Google Sheets. This is the main advantage - the program independently processes information from the connected data source, your task is only to configure in which form you want the data to be presented.
Imagine that the income received during each location for the last year for each type of product is written in the form of text on a piece of paper. Very uncomfortable, right? And now these data have been recorded in a table. Better? And now the table has been painted over, showing the highest and lowest income and intermediate results in different colors.
Now you have an overall picture of the profitability of your products for each month, you don't even have to read the numbers to understand which month has become the most successful and which product is bought most often. This is the main task of BI Reporting Tools - to present you with a clear and informative picture of the business at this moment in time.
Best Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools
Efficiency of business depends on the organisation system. And if a new program breaks it you can have big problems in the company. So selection of new software, especially for analytics of data, is an important decision.
Big programs like business intelligence tools have many characteristics, capabilities and features. And if you choose wrong it will be very difficult to correct.
So we want to help you and we make a list of top business intelligence tools, which can help you to improve your business.
This reporting tool in BI immediately provides a stack of ready-made reports and dashboards, ready to use. You can change their appearance, adjust the way data is presented, change the data source, combine information from different stores, if necessary.
A big advantage is that you can also ask the developers to customize the report for your needs or create a new one. When using this software product, you need to make a minimum of effort to be able to use it without problems.
This BI reporting tool can be integrated with Google Sheets, it will be especially useful for e-commerce business because it is easy to integrate with various marketplaces and adapt to different needs.
Also, an additional benefit is that you can already see how your store and reports will look. The company has created examples on the test database, which allows new customers to immediately see what result they will get from cooperation.
Moreover, the company provides a lot of supporting material that will help answer various questions regarding the specifics of the work of all available reports.
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Microsoft Power BI is perhaps the most famous reporting tool in BI. This software product is developed by Microsoft and runs on the Azure cloud. Data can be accessed from any device. The program can be downloaded, which makes it possible to work with both cloud and server analytics.
Power BI integrates easily into the Microsoft ecosystem, serving organizations that already use Microsoft products. This enables perfect integration with such sources of information as Excel, MS SQL Server, Facebook, Oracle. However, it does not limit the use of other possible data sources.
The good news for beginners is that it doesn't take much time to master the program. Power BI makes it possible to effectively manage data, generate informative reports and quickly create dashboards.
Tableau Interface
Platform: Crossplatform solution
Pricing: from $15.00 per user per month
Rating: 4.6 / 2244 Reviews on Capterra
Tableau is on par with Microsoft Power BI as one of the most powerful BI tools for creating reports. User-friendly interface and advanced visualization capabilities (information panels, graphs, maps, charts, dashboards) are of interest to users who do not know how to program, but need a professional system to monitor changes in business.
Tableau Public lets you share data visualizations with other team members. Data sources can be as diverse as the methods of data visualization:
MS Excel
Oracle
MS SQL
Google Analytics
SalesForce
In addition to its reputation as easy-to-manage software, Tableau excels with real-time visual analytics that allow users to quickly identify changing business trends.
Zoho Analytics is a specific business intelligence reporting tool. Why? Because the main advantage of this tool is that you can build reports and dashboards in web-sites, systems and other programs without problems.
Also this platform offers a low entry threshold for newcomers, a simple and user-friendly interface, various opportunities to make your report interesting and informative, and do quick analytics of data.
In order to make an informed decision, you need to take into account that the platform is dependent on the Internet, cannot serve large volumes of data for large companies, and often the data processing speed decreases if a large mass of information is processed.
QlikSense, a Qlik product, is a comprehensive data analysis platform and business intelligence tool that emphasizes that even someone who is far from IT can work with the platform. No less important advantages are that:
the platform is adapted to work from the phone
has a unique associative analytics engine that allows users to discover hidden data trends and relationships, providing a deeper understanding of data.
natural language input
convenient cloud platform
various analysis tools help to analyze the business from all necessary angles
Disadvantages of using QlikSense as a BI reporting tool:
it takes some time to master the advanced features on the platform
the complexity of processing large data sets
may be useful for small and medium businesses, but not for large ones
Pricing: from $300.00 per month, free plan available
Rating: 4.3 / 290 Reviews on Capterra
Domo is a cloud-based business intelligence platform designed for both small businesses and large multinationals. It excels at integrating different data sources such as spreadsheets, databases, and social media, providing both micro- and macro-level analysis.
The program offers a number of BI data visualizations, including interactive maps, graphs and pie charts, to keep the focus on the analytics of data. If you cannot choose the most optimal way of visualization, the platform will offer several variants to choose from. Users can personalize data and reports with an intuitive drag-and-drop dashboard builder and customizable templates, making data visualization more efficient.
Domo includes features such as real-time KPI tracking alerts, data annotations, and refinements with filters and calculated fields. The platform easily integrates with CRM tools like HubSpot, allowing you to quickly view marketing and sales KPIs. However, it has some limitations, such as problems downloading analyzes for personal use and a steep learning curve for new users.
Datapine stands out as a robust reporting automation program and business intelligence tool that enables seamless data integration that easily consolidates information from multiple sources. Its no less important advantage is the ability to forecast analytics.
Flexibility in using different data sources and obtaining results in different formats, as well as the flexibility to perform cross-database analysis without knowledge of SQL and quickly create reports through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Operating as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, Datapine removes the complexity of installation by providing automatic updates.
Cognos Analytics is a unique business analytics platform that is based on the use of AI and supports the entire analytics cycle. From discovery to action, you can visualize, analyze and share actionable insights about your data with your colleagues.
The uniqueness of this platform is that AI helps to discover patterns and relationships even in unsorted data. This greatly simplifies the process of filing information and saves you a lot of time. However, as with any new platform, you will need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with it and setting it up.
We would like to emphasize that all image data is stored in the cloud, which only members of your team have access to. All of you can equally influence the process of working with data.
MicroStrategy, an enterprise reporting and business intelligence tool. One of the advantages, in addition to a wide range of reports and analytical capabilities, is high scalability, so the platform is suitable for both small and large enterprises. While its flexibility in data exploration is obvious, the setup process can be multi-party and requires a deep understanding of the application to work with.
MicroStrategy offers ready-made gateways and native drivers that easily connect to a variety of enterprise resources, including databases, mobile device management systems, enterprise directories, cloud applications, and physical access control systems. In particular, its built-in analytics tool allows MicroStrategy to be easily integrated into web pages, portals, CRM tools, chatbots and voice assistants such as Alexa.
Oracle BI is a platform that is part of the Oracle development ecosystem. Therefore, first of all, this business intelligence tool will be well integrated with other developments of this ecosystem.
In addition, a large selection of tools for analytics and reporting will impress even experienced specialists: forecasting, machine learning, integration into websites and other systems.
The platform mainly works with large companies and data volumes. And in view of this, the program pays considerable attention to their protection: role-based access control, encryption and compliance with industry security standards.
The great performance and power of this program requires some time from users to master the principles of its operation.
SAP
SAP Interface
Platform: Crossplatform solution
Pricing: from $432.00
Rating: 4.3 / 305 Reviews on Capterra
SAP is also part of the SAP Ecosystem, so the program seamlessly integrates with other SAP products, including SAP HANA, SAP ERP, and SAP BW, creating a unified ecosystem for organizations leveraging multiple SAP technologies.
This business intelligence tool can also work with both small and large companies. Enables real-time data processing and tracking of information across departments, especially when integrated with SAP HANA.
However, users should pay attention to the fact that the platform is quite complex and requires time to establish work with it. In addition, the program requires significant computing resources and it will be difficult for companies with a small IT infrastructure to work with it.
Additionally, integrating SAP BI with non-SAP data sources may require additional effort and customization.
Sisense offers its users advanced opportunities for data analysis. This is possible thanks to a unique architecture that integrates data preparation, modeling and visualization into a single platform.
Newbies will feel comfortable working with Sisense because you don't need to program to work with data, just work with the drag-and-drop dashboard builder. Key features include a single-stack architecture for seamless data preparation and analysis, an integrated data processing engine for high-speed processing of large data sets, and AI and machine learning integration for advanced analytics.
Sisense is recognized for its simplicity and effectiveness in optimizing data analysis processes and automating reports. To use all the capabilities of the program, it is necessary to have an idea about writing SQL scripts.
Sisense is a flexible platform that supports various data sources and can save work results in pdf, csv, table and other common formats.
Looker Studio (Formerly Google Data Studio)
Looker Studio Interface
Platform: Crossplatform solution
Pricing: Free plan available
Rating: 4.5 / 315 Reviews on Capterra
Now part of Google Cloud, Looker stands out as a comprehensive business intelligence tool suitable for startups, midsize companies and enterprises. Looker has the following advantages:
cloud technology - no need to download an application
a beginner can quickly master the program
ready-made dashboard models are offered
display of indicators in real time
cooperation with any data sources, especially from the Google family
Among the disadvantages can be noted:
the program will not be able to process a large stream of data, such as for corruptions
it is impossible to work with data in the absence of the Internet
it is impossible to track which of the participants made which changes, you only see the final result
How to choose BI reporting tool?
In order to choose the right business intelligence and reporting tool, first determine your needs and the specifics of your company's IT infrastructure.
For example, if the company is large and you need a powerful program, then Mipler, Tableau, Power BI, Oracle BI, MicroStrategy, SAP BI will be the ideal choice for you, and for smaller companies you should choose other programs, such as Looker Studio, Datapine, Domo etc.
There are universal programs such as: Mipler, Tableau, Power BI, Sisense, they are suitable for companies of different sizes and satisfy almost all business needs.
If you are still in doubt, which of described business intelligence tools is preferable for you company, then you should do very simply:
Describe your business needs and technical features.
Next to each point, write those programs that will be able to satisfy the need or feature.
Make a list of the most common programs.
Read their descriptions, compare them and choose the one that suits you best.
"This app is an excellent tool! I use it to give need-to-know information directly to team members that need it."
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Conclusion about reporting tools in BI
Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools are one of those tools that will help you and your business thrive. The success of the company depends on many factors, but it is certainly not possible without organized data and properly organized and analyzed work results. Without it, it is impossible to correct your mistakes and become better.
A successful choice of a tool for work will save you from problems with the organization of information flows within the company and will save a lot of time searching for the necessary data.
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